Last gasp Frame rescues Reds
Full-back seals draw with final kick
Linlithgow Reds were held to a 9- 9 draw by a stubborn Duns side as their inconsistent start to the season continued.
The Reds were hoping to get back to winning ways against the side lying bottom of the East League One table but it wasn’t to be in front of a decent crowd at Mains Park.
Duns kicked off but the Reds immediately knocked the ball, which was a sign of things to come.
The game was only three minutes old when Duns took an early opportunity to register a penalty and take the lead.
Linlithgow took play into the visitors’ half but managed to miss two overlaps when a score looked inevitable each time.
After a quarter of an hour, the hosts’ full back, Jack Frame, levelled the scores with a penalty.
The game then entered a long spell when both sides were struggling in the wet conditions to put together any fluency and there was no further scoring in the first half.
Linlithgow mounted the first attack of the second half and although it broke down because of a forward pass, the referee had been playing a penalty advantage.
Frame slotted this home to give the Reds a 6-3 lead.
The pattern of the game did not alter with play bogged down in midfield before the home coaching team made changes with Robbie Thomson and Steven Grant coming on for Russell Murdoch and Calum McKeown.
In the 57th minute, Duns equalised with a penalty before following it up with another three points just prior to the 70 minute marks as they entered the final stages with a slim 9-6 lead.
Linlithgow were given a boost when Duns were reduced to 14 men shortly after they regained the lead and that injected some urgency into the play of the Reds.
The home side were not managing to make the extra man count as time was running down.
Linlithgow made one last surge forward and Duns were penalised before they compounded the error by talking back to the referee.
As the visitors were marched back ten metres for dissent, the Reds realised that the penalty would be the last kick of the game.
With his task made ten metres easier, Frame slotted this third penalty of the game to tie the scores for the last time and seal a share of the spoils for the Reds.
The hosts did rescue a draw in the final stages but know they will need to up their game to score a win over North Berwick at home on Saturday (3pm start).